


The Southern Air Temple

by Logically



Series: No matter how [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gambling, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Genocide, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23221291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Logically/pseuds/Logically
Summary: After almost a month at sea Zuko's bandages finally come off and Ai can't decide if seeing the innuemerable skeletons of her dead fellows or the evidence of one parent's cruelty is the most awful thing she's seen that week.Meanwhile, Iroh schemes to somehow get his nephew to be Actual Friends with the only other child onboard, because watching her train to make sure she's following your orders and sometimes having awkward conversations afterwards don't count.
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: No matter how [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1620994
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	The Southern Air Temple

**Author's Note:**

> The creators of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" are Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. I do not own "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and nor do I claim to. I am making no monetary profit from this work: I am writing this for fun and writing practice, not for profit.  
> Please support the original release!  
> Information gained from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender_(comics)#Short_stories  
> Articles: "Avatar: The Last Airbender (comics)" and "Short stories"  
> Date accssesed: 02/02/2020

For most people, the sounds of wind menacingly clawing against the metal sides of the boat would have heralded the kind of storm that required everything to be tied down if it wasn’t already. As it was, the crew of the battered navy cruiser knew better: if in doubt, look outside the nearest porthole. If there were thunderheads on the horizon that meant it was time to batten down the hatches and make sure that their food was kept in a place unlikely to get wet. If there was not, then it probably meant that their newest addition was once again having a fit of frustration up on the deck.

For her part Ai wouldn’t call it a fit of frustration but rather a just expression of the anger that seemed to be constantly welling up from the dark corners of her mind. For almost a month she’d been on this ship, and in that time she’d made a pitiful amount of progress. She’d gotten better at Pai Sho, but only once she’d learned to ignore the whispers of memories that lurked behind every “click” of a tile. Every now and again the general would send her concerned glances from across the board, but she pretended not to notice them. Even her new found gambling buddies had seemed to sense her shift in mood and the most outspoken, a spearman named Sho, had suggested that she get herself back into order before trying to take the games seriously again. After all there was money at stake, and only the dishonourable would be fine with taking winnings from a distracted opponent. 

She’d been slightly offended at the time, but now the truth of those words rang as clearly through her mind as one of the warning bells attached to the walls. She was distracted, and it was these stupid scrolls that were the cause! 

Even now, weighed down by miscellaneous items that she’d pilfered from across the ship the scroll and the people drawn upon it seemed to mock her in their indifference. 

When he had handed over the scrolls, Zuko had failed to warn that apparently the ancient airbenders didn’t care much for written instructions. This scroll in particular only offered vague humanoid shapes and a hastily scrawled note reading: “A young monk from the Southern Temple recently earned his arrows by creating this move- how ingenious! Now if only I could get one of my girls to do the same so that old codger will stop bragging.” Ai had been intrigued, at first. If what that note said was true, then this move was possibly the most recent development in airbending since the temples had been wiped out. Every time she tried to form the ball though the small air currents always skittered out of her control which created a gust of wind capable of knocking her off of her feet. The crew members on deck had quickly learned to give her a wide berth while she was practising, lest they suddenly get bowled over by a flying teenage girl. 

Logically she knew that mastering the forms would take months, if not years unless she was unknowingly some sort of prodigy (unlikely), but she couldn’t help the impatience. Back home, she’d copied her father’s movements over and over again until there was only the smallest chance of her making a mistake. Bits of paper were no substitute for a real teacher.

Due to this, the only moves she’d made noticeable progress in were Gale Running and using the air to jump great heights. Remembering the gentle admonishments and corrections had made her heart twist in painful ways, but it had been almost worth it to look down on both princes’ gobsmacked expressions from her position at the top of the flag post.

Speaking of princes…

The young girl’s face twisted into a grimace as the impatience came roaring back with force. She needed something to show a good amount of progress soon or she might be left behind, because…

Last week, Zuko’s bandages had come off.   
\- - - - -

That day, there had been a strange uneasiness amongst the crew. The younger members gathered in small groups and spoke in low tones, red armour squeaking slightly as they shuffled their feet. Older navy people eyed each other with slight suspicion and had even less patience for conversation than usual. Iroh had hardly been seen, but when he had his seemingly constant genial smile had been missing, replaced with a frown that promised a hurricane of anger with the right provocation. 

No one knew who had leaked that the Prince of the Fire Nations’s bandages were due to come off, or even who could have possibly done so. It was generally known that the only people the young man would allow to tend to it were Iroh and the medic, who had been cooped up in his own offices all of the previous day (and while the news broke) in order to prepare. 

In the end it hadn’t mattered because whether everyone knew or not; the right side of his face was going to be revealed. 

For some, Ai’s reaction could be seen as underwhelming: when told about the upcoming event, she’d felt some degree of gladness for someone whom she’d just begun to know a little. Zuko still spent the majority of his time in his rooms, but now he ventured out occasionally in order to make sure she followed his orders to practise. Having an audience was a little nerve-wracking, especially since there was always the possibility of accidentally throwing him over board, but she’d seen something the first time he came to watch that made her keep her mouth shut.

Her (and most of the crew’s) perception of Zuko had been of an angry young man who was quick to shout and quick to lose his temper. Thanks to their supremely awkward conversation the day she’d been given the scrolls and books, she also knew him to be slightly clumsy when it came to social interaction. That changed the first day he observed her trying to create a gust of wind with her breath.

The sudden realization that she was being observed had been enough to make her choke on the exhale, but before that she’d caught something on his face.

Wonder.

She hadn’t thought a firebender could look upon airbending with anything other than slightly-creepy fascination, or that Zuko would make such an expression if he was aware of it. 

Despite her acknowledgement of his youth a few days previously, it had only struck her then that he really was just a child; a child placed in charge of a crew of thirty-something people, and whose face was partially swaddled in bandages no one apart from herself and almost certainly the general knew the cause of.

Ai would be the first to admit that she didn’t have the best knowledge of the war: her hometown was far in the mountains and largely isolated, so news came mostly in the form of rumours carried by travelling merchants. It just so happened that Ai the elder was also a travelling merchant, and was willing to divulge some information for free instead of at the price of some of the innkeeper’s good alcohol. 

The picture her mother painted of the Fire Nation was of ruthless pragmatics: from their new-fangled metal boats powered by coal to imprisoning every earthbender in the villages they conquered. Why then, would such a nation waste precious resources including an accomplished general chasing a legend no one could prove the existence of?

Why place someone who was apparently disgraced and barely a teenager in charge of it?

With nothing to distract her after the sun set, these thoughts often ran around in her skull, picking up bits and pieces of memories to form a disturbing picture. Despite everything that had happened because of the war and what had happened to her people, both of her parents had carefully taught their daughter to judge people as individuals. After all, mother would make far less money if he was picky about who got to buy her wares, and if you managed to judge a customer correctly you could make twice or thrice the sale. This also applied to the shop father used to run; no matter who came in the door, business was business. It was partly the reason why Ai had chosen to board a Fire Nation ship so easily, and why it felt like there were rabbit-snakes coiling over and over again in her gut once she came to her conclusion.

Fire Lord Ozai didn’t want his son to return. He couldn’t have, because if he honestly wanted to find the Avatar he would have handed the mission to someone with actual military experience. This supposed quest was undoubtedly designed to keep Zuko away from the Fire Nation indefinitely, but the only question was: why? Back when she could still eavesdrop on her mother’s conversations and had first learned about it she had hoped for an answer, but found that not even her well-travelled parent could provide one.

Once she came to this realization, Ai tried to hide her feelings as much as possible. The underlying sense of horror whenever she was confronted with Zuko’s face made their already awkward conversations even more stilted, and in the days leading up to the reveal she could tell that he was close to blowing up at her. She couldn’t help it, though. What could he have possibly have done to deserve both that and being sent on a hopeless search across the world?

When the bandages finally came off and she saw the burn, curling around his face in the vague shape of a hand, the answer came along with the almost overwhelming urge to vomit.

It was nothing. There was nothing he could have done to warrant it. And she knew, as surely as she knew the feeling of a smouldering coal sitting in her gut whenever she saw his son’s face, that Fire Lord Ozai was a detestable person.

\- - - - -

Predictably, Prince Zuko demanded to resume his training as soon as he saw his uncle after the medic had removed the cloth from his face. 

“I’ve already wasted weeks!” He exclaimed from his position on the other side of the table. Outwardly unbothered by his nephew’s shouting, Iroh exhaled deeply before gingerly taking a sip of his tea. The young man’s only remaining eyebrow twitched, and steam could be seen as he spoke through gritted teeth: “Uncle!”

“Patience nephew,” the old man replied while reaching for the sugar “we will resume your training in due time. For now, we are less than a day’s sailing from the Southern Air Temple. Surely you would want to save your energy to search it, yes?” At the mention of the temple Zuko’s scowl somehow became more profound. Seeing this, Iroh placed his cup of tea down with a concerned frown on his face. “Prince Zuko, you seem troubled. What is bothering you?” 

The prince in question felt a mean bark of laughter try to make it’s way past his throat. What was wrong? Oh, only that he was banished from his homeland and he had to capture the Avatar before he could return home. 

Instead what came out of his mouth was: “Ai has been acting strangely.” He’d been finally able to learn her name after listening to one of her co-gamblers mention her in passing, but that was a secret he was taking to his grave. 

His uncle gave a thoughtful hum, using the hand that was no longer holding the tea cup to stroke his beard. “Yes, I have noticed that she has seemed a little out of sorts lately. Perhaps she is not mastering the airbending katas you gifted her with as quickly as she’d like.” Zuko jolted uncomfortably; he hadn’t known that Iroh had known that he’d given her those. Still, what the adult had said had given him pause. So Ai was being so strange around him because she was afraid of not fulfilling his orders well enough? Inwardly, Zuko knew that he’d never admit to the relief that filled him with. Unlike other members of the crew, Ai hadn’t spent inappropriate amounts of time staring at the right side of his face after they had first met, nor did she shy from making eye contact with him.

Now that the bandages were off though, it was like she suddenly couldn’t bare to look at his face. Being ashamed over not fulfilling his orders was much better than the alternative. Outwardly, he scoffed. “Well, I’ll just have to tell her to calm down, then. I’m willing to wait if it means I’m not fighting an unprepared opponent.”  
Iroh unexpectedly beamed at him, causing the other to blink rapidly. “Uncle! Warn me before you do that!”

His uncle stopped beaming and instead blinked confusedly. “Warn you before I do what, nephew?”  
“Nevermind.”

A silence settled over the two relatives, but it was not an uncomfortable one. The elder continued to stroke his beard in apparent contemplation, while the younger gazed out of a nearby porthole as if the temple would show up on the horizon at any moment. 

Seeing his nephew do this made the old general mentally sigh; there was much that could be gleaned from standing amongst the relics of the past, but none would make it past the young man’s skull if he was focused only on his search for the Avatar. Things like that the Fire Nation, and especially the royal line that had birthed the Fire Lord that gave the order to destroy the temples, could be unnecessarily cruel. 

It was as if a lantern had been lit above his head. Careful not to show any signs of eagerness, Iroh leaned across the table slightly. The movement caught the other’s attention, who turned to face him with a scowl.

Hopefully this next proposal would be a step in the right direction to see his nephew smile once again.

"The young Ai will undoubtedly want to explore the temple; it is her cultural heritage, after all." At this the other winced slightly, sparking a faint flicker of surprise within the old general. It seemed the young airbender had inadvertedly begun his work for him, and this only made him even more sure of what his next sentence would be.

"So what?" The prince sanpped back, but Iroh noted that it was with a little less ire than usual. It almost made him want to punch the air: progress!

"So, would it not be better for her to do so with a friendly face? I'm sure the experience is likely to be quite harrowing for her, and having a bit of support is always a good thing. Since you will be searching the place anyway, why not do so with her?"

Hook, line, sinker: his nephew's face slackened, and the lack of an immediate refusal showed that he was at least considering it. Iroh's lips twitched, but it was not without some sadness. He had never visited the temple, but he was sure that there would be... evidence there that would be unpleasant for his young Pai Sho partner to see. If his nephew agreed, which judging by the look on his face he would, perhaps he would disceetly follow them at a distance, just in case.

**Author's Note:**

> : I know that it’s entirely my fault that it’s a bit confusing, but please let me explain something. Before her realization, Ai had never put the pieces together about Zuko’s scar/ his banishment. Before she met him she knew in theory that his dad had burned him and banished him, but she hadn’t known how old he was. So while she thought that that was a horrible thing for any parent to do Ai also reserved judgement until she had more info, because as far as she knew that was a normal royal firebender thing to do against an ADULT son who had broken the law or something equally morally questionable. (Like how medieval English society sometimes branded criminals in some way, such as by tearing off the ears of a thief: horrific, but probably thought of as entirely normal at the time; I’m sure that despite what is seen in the show, similar punishments must have been given out in some places in the Avatar world, especially after viewing the example of Chin village in the episode “Avatar Day”.) 
> 
> When she did meet him it never really sunk in how horrific what happened to Zuko was until she saw him basically gaping in wonder at her doing an airbending move, just like any child would when seeing something they’ve never seen before that they think is impressive or cool. After that she realized he’s essentially a child running around trying to do an adult’s job, and couldn’t have done anything to warrant being disfigured by his own parent and then banned from coming home unless he does what she believes to be impossible: capturing the Avatar (Ai does not believe that the Avatar exists, so this struck her as especially cruel.)
> 
> As for how Ai has realized this but Zuko hasn't... please keep in mind that Ai is years older than he is, and wasn't nearly as isolated growing up. Yes she spent her childhood in a small mountain town, but I figure that has nothing on the Fire Nation royal palace. Also, Zuko is currently so desperately trying to win back the approval of his father that he has almost no chance to realize that he never had it in the first place.


End file.
